1-6-09: Mountaineer magic begins at the top

Eastern Oregon University women’s basketball coach Anji Weissenfluh has led many great teams in the past.

This season, she may be proving herself as one of the nation’s most elite coaches and making an early statement for conference coach of the year.

In a season that was supposed to be for rebuilding, the Mountaineers sit one game out of first place in conference play through the first four league games.

Last Friday night Eastern Oregon made another step closer to an unprecedented sixth straight conference title.

“It has been a priviledge to work with Anji,” EOU assistant coach Jami Huntsman said. “She not only has a lot of respect from her players but other coaches. She gives the players not only a great experience on the court, but a great college experience.”

Weissenfluh has molded a young and inexperienced group of players into league contenders over the past two months and now has them believing.

This year’s Mountaineers have only three players back from a team that finished in the nation’s sweet 16 last season.

Weissenfluh works teams out of potential crisises better than MacGuyver.

Last season, EOU lost its starting point guard and back-up point guard during the season, before making that incredible postseason run.

This season she lost her leading scorer to disciplinary reasons and played last Friday’s first half win without two starters and the team’s leading three-point threat.

“I’ll be honest, our success this season is a bit of a surprise,” Eastern’s lone senior Salena Leavitt said. “Coming into this season we didn’t know what to expect with nine new girls.”

Leavitt has been a part of the Mountaineers magical ride over the past four seasons. EOU has amassed a record of 94-28 over her career at EOU.

“It’s been a great career here,” Leavitt said. “Anji has been a great coach. I feel like this season has been our best relationship so far. She is intense, she wants to win and she makes us want to win.”

Not to downplay anything the Eastern Oregon men’s basketball team has done, but with all the notoriety they get, the women deserve just as much if not more.

“I think one thing that sets her aside from any other coach is how hard she works at it,” Eastern men’s basketball coach Ryan Looney said. “Coaching is no different than any other profession out there, the harder you work at it the better you will be.

“I don’t think there is any pressure when the women do well that we have to. Sometimes there is pressure perceived. But, I think if you ask Coach Weissenfluh, I think us as coaches put more pressure on ourselves than anybody else does.”

The record simply speaks for itself, five straight conference championships and six of the last seven.

The Mountaineers have a 120-31 record over the past five seasons winning at least 14 conference games and 20 overall games each season.

The Dec. 12 loss at Southern Oregon was only the 14th conference loss over the last five years for Eastern.

Weissenfluh has the most wins as a head coach in the programs’ history with 170 wins.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Anji now for eight years,” EOU athletic director Rob Cashell said. “It is a pleasure to work with her. She is a great coach who really cares about the kids.

“She gets the most out of every kid. She focuses in on their academics and on the court does not just make great players, but makes great team players.”

One of the most important keys to Weissenfluh’s success has been her eye for talent. She and her staff find the area’s best recruits.

“The truth is I was not going to play my sophomore year,” EOU junior transfer Tana Stickney said. “But, my coach told me Coach Weissenfluh was interested in me, and because of that I continued playing.”

Weissenfluh has coached many All-Conference players and one All-American.

“I loved playing for Anji,” former Eastern standout and All-Conference player Tiffanie Ulmer said. “She does a good job of enforcing that academics are the most important thing.

“I admit coming from a junior college to here, my junior college classes were much easier but my GPA was far higher here.”

In her nine seasons of coaching, Weissenfluh has had 10 NAIA Academic All-Americans.

Under her reign, the Mountaineers have been involved with many community outreach projects including the 12-hour drug free relay, Fire and Safety fair and Shelter from the Storm.

She was named the first softball coach at EOU and led the Mountaineers to fourth and fifth national rankings in 1999 and 2000.

During her 11 seasons of coaching softball she was named conference coach of the year five times.

In a time where money can sometimes seem more valuable than philanthropy, Weissenfluh continues to stay in La Grande.

Sports fans know all too well about coaching changes, whether it’s after a positive or negative season.

The community is fortunate to have a winner on and off the court stable in La Grande.

1-26-09: Brainerd lifts Leopards past Imbler

IMBLER — The OSAA may need to remind Cove and Imbler that the playoffs begin in late February.

The atmosphere at Saturday’s Leopards and Panthers’ boys basketball game was similar to the postseason.

Cove held off No. 7 Imbler, 60-53 in what may be the most exciting regular season game in the Old Oregon League.
“This is the first time since I’ve been coaching at Cove that we have beat Imbler,” head coach Todd Gorham said. “So, that goes back to 2000, it’s probably like eight to 10 years since we’ve won.”

The Leopards watched a 13 point fourth quarter lead shrink to four with 40 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Our guys aren’t used to being ahead in a big game,” Gorham said. “You could see the pressure get to them a little bit. We were fortunate to get some calls and stops at the end. I was very pleased with our defense.”

Cove’s Justin Brainerd scored a career-high 26 points. The senior made 12 of his 24 shots from the field.

“That’s the first time we’ve beat Imbler in football or basketball since I’ve been here,” Brainerd said. “At the end we were having trouble holding onto the ball. We just made some bad mistakes.

“This felt so good. They were the number one team in the league and we handed them their first (league) loss.”

Jered Witty added 16 points for the Leopards.

Entering Saturday’s game the Panthers had won eight straight games after starting the season 1-4.

Imbler’s Dalton McDaniel followed up his 30-point performance Friday night scoring a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Bryson Ricker finished with 11 points for the Panthers.

“I was proud of our boys fighting hard at the end,” Imbler head coach Jarrod Teeter said. “I thought Andrew (Fullerton) and Tieghlor (Mesterheide) came in and did a great job on defense to get us back in the game.

“Cove is nice. They worked hard and played a good game. They deserved this win.”

The loss puts Imbler and Powder Valley in a tie atop the Old Oregon League at the mid-way point of the league schedule.

Cove is now tied for third place with Wallowa.

“We can beat anyone on a given night shooting the ball like we did tonight,” Gorham said. “I’m so proud of our guys. I’m really happy for them. They all work so hard and it paid off tonight.”

The Leopards host Pine Eagle Friday night and the Panthers host Joseph.

On Jan. 8, Imbler defeated the Eagles on the road, 52-28. Cove routed Pine Eagle on Jan. 9, 83-29.

1-15-09: Grin and Barrett - A weekend with The Observer

The following column is a somewhat “behind the scenes” look at a normal winter weekend working with The Observer sports department.

I’ll be honest, last weekend was not exactly normal. But, as it was unfolding I knew it would be classic column material.

Sunday through Wednesday in local sports are moderately easy. However, once Thursday comes around it seems like Sunday is an eternity away.

Let’s begin with Thursday evening and a trip to Joseph, to cover the No. 2 Imbler girls basketball team and top-ranked Joseph.

I’m not sure there would have been any amount of snow that would have kept Paul Harder and I away from this game.

Luckily the roads were clear and I met Paul in Elgin and we car pooled from there.

We felt uneasy on the way up when we passed a snowplow pulled over in Minam. Did he know something we didn’t know?

The girls game lived up to the hype and was phenomenal. Both teams have tremendously talented players. It was a boxing match from the beginning as Imbler may have left winning a 12th round knockout.

I returned home just in time to see Florida’s celebration after winning the national title.

After typing the Imbler and Joseph game recaps, I got to sleep around midnight knowing another trip to Joseph was hours away.

I gave myself ample time when I left La Grande around 12:30 p.m. Friday to get to the Jo-Hi wrestling tournament by 2:30 p.m.

The weather was gorgeous and I knew I’d want to enjoy the drive by taking my time.

At times, I can be La Grande’s toughest critic. The isolation and weather can take a toll this time of year. But Friday I experienced what attracts people here.

I get it now.

I probably stopped four times on the drive to take pictures of my surroundings. The combination of the Wallowa River, the mountains and the crystal clear day would have won the appreciation of any cynic.

When I got to Joseph, I was once again blown away by great athleticism. The wrestlers at this year’s classic were amazing.

The great thing about the Jo-Hi is the championship-style bracket. It allows individuals to truly shine.

The end product was 1A programs with four or five wrestlers really turning some heads by beating 3A schools.

I ask the readers, if you have some free time on a weekend please get out and watch a wrestling tournament.

Some of the best local talent can be found on the mats. Joseph head coach Randy Garnett made a great point in saying, “Wrestling is the toughest sport out there. In wrestling you cannot blame anyone but yourself. If something goes wrong its on the wrestler.”

I returned to La Grande around 7 p.m. and began making calls for the other local games.

Friday nights are the most difficult of the week. With only two sports writers and many local events, it can make for some late nights.

Last Friday was no exception, but I slept in a little so I could be well rested for my drive to North Powder — or so I thought.

I’m not sure where we got the information and it was most likely my fault, but I drove to North Powder thinking the No. 5 Powder Valley boys basketball team would be hosting No. 8 Wallowa.

I was incorrect.

I apologize for anyone else who made the same mistake, but I was right there with you.

After making a call from the Powder Valley parking lot, I found out the game was in Wallowa and made a U-turn.

For anyone who remembered last Saturday’s weather it was a bit different than the previous two days. I could see dark ominous clouds over the Wallowa Mountains, but I went for it.

It would be the second of four bad decisions that night.

Number three came as I was driving through Elgin. Now, I write the following to keep reality and honesty in my column, not to come off as a hoodlum.

I got pulled over just outside of Elgin for going slightly over the speed limit, and I mean slightly.

Seeing the blue and red lights flicker behind you may be the worst feeling in the world.

Being that I have not been pulled over since I was 17, eight years ago, I thought I forgot the feeling.

After running my license and learning that my driving record was as clean as a Martha Stewart kitchen, the officer let me off with a warning.

Thank you sir, I won’t need another.

My final bad call on the night was continuing to drive. As appealing as the top 10 match-up was, it was a near white-out from Minam to Wallowa.

Being from Florida, let’s just say I have not had too much experience driving over 20 miles per hour in the snow.

Saturday night was no exception as I drove the final 15 miles to Wallowa at 17 miles per hour.

I made it back home safe, crawled into bed and was thankful it was a long time before the next weekend.

1-1-08: Grin and Barrett: The Great 2008

By now you have ate all the ham you could want and then try to forget that there is still some in your fridge.
You’ve figured out that sweet potatoes next to green beans on a plate can make for a pretty good mixture in the middle.
And, you have probably been fine with the absence of Christmas movies the past couple of days.
I’ll give you a little break from the holiday eating and synonymous holiday shows.
I know there have been plenty of year-end recaps for the past week, so what’s one more?
There’s been plenty of talk that the past year may have been the greatest in the history of sports, and I agree.
I’ll start in January and Louisiana State being crowned national champion with two losses. The Tigers dominated Ohio State in the national championships.
College football fans all over crossed their fingers hoping the Buckeyes don’t make another national title game in a long time.
On Feb. 3, the New York Giants shocked the sports world by upsetting the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
Giants’ wide receiver, David Tyree, became a great Trivial Pursuit future answer but not a great fantasy football wide receiver this season.
In March we all saw madness off the basketball court. Brett Favre made his first of 12 retirement announcements, but did win an academy award in the process.
April 7th is a day the Memphis basketball team would like to forget. The Tigers watched an amazing season and big lead dwindle in the closing minutes of regulation before losing to Kansas in overtime.
Even more bad news for Memphis came when they had to watch Mario Chalmers buzzer beating shot replayed the rest of the year.
Four days later shocking news came in women’s basketball when Tennessee won the national title!
But, at least Connecticut wasn’t second place, nice work Stanford.
In May, pre-race favorite Big Brown made many first-time gamblers very happy by winning the Kentucky Derby.
Tiger Woods had a big month in June defying all odds winning the U.S. Open on a tore-up left knee.
You remember golf right? I know it hasn’t been the same since.
Two days later the Boston Celtics won the franchise’s 17th NBA title.
It just goes to show that if you manage to get on a team with three all-stars, you may want to keep your ring finger available.
June was a huge month because a week later the Fresno State baseball team made an improbable run to the national title.
They became the biggest underdogs to win an NCAA title. The Bulldogs entered the College World Series only ten games above .500.
They entered the national tournament as basically the equivalent to a No. 13 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament.
Rafael Nadal put an end to Roger Federer’s incredible Wimbledon run on July 5th winning the title in straight sets.
Federer would have to settle for a Gillette endorsement alongside Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods.
In the Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps ran away with our hearts and Usain Bolt ran away from everyone.
Unfortunately for Bolt, he will have to settle for second place to Phelps when anyone discusses the 29th Summer Olympiad.
But, Bolt did give us media endless headlines with his name. Lightning bolt is an obvious one, but it’s amazing how close Usain sounds with insane.
The fall classic was great for baseball. The two underdog runs provided us semi-fans of baseball a reason to watch.
However, apparently America didn’t want to see a Rays and Phillies final. Media markets in Boston in Los Angeles were so close to having their dreams come true.
Whatever happens in 2009 -- Obama battling the BCS, Michael Vick returning to the NFL or Notre Dame winning seven football games -- here’s to the next year, it has some incredible shoes to fill.

12-8-08 Grin and Barrett: Some ideas for college football

Can we please take the letter “C” out of BCS? Because that’s basically what postseason NCAA Division 1 college football is anymore.

As long as this computerized formula is around picking the best football teams at the end of the season there will be problems.

Now, I know I already wrote one column this season on the BCS, but there are so many flaws with the system I could write something on it every week.
This year undefeated Boise State finds itself on the inside looking in. I say that because the Broncos are currently rated ninth in the BCS standings.

To be considered as a BCS at-large team you must be ranked in the top 14.

The BCS bypassed Boise State and went with No. 10 Ohio State.

My questions are why even have a ranking? And, why put Boise State at No. 9 for the past month, just to have them beat out by a team behind them.

The Orange Bowl is a BCS bowl game and invited Virginia Tech and Cincinnati this season.

You can find Virginia Tech at No. 19 in the current ratings and Cincinnati at No. 12.

My suggestion is don’t call it a BCS game unless it involves a top 10-ranked team.

Why not just take the top 10 teams at the end of the season and have them play in the five BCS bowl games?

Get rid of any automatic conference tie-ins in the BCS games.

That’s just my compromise; I’d love if they just got rid of the whole system and went to a playoff format.

Looking at some other bowl games, I know you all are like me and cannot wait for this season’s Motor City Bowl between Florida Atlantic and Central Michigan.

There are so many bowl games this season (34) that to become bowl eligible all you need is a .500 record.

That means mid-major schools like Florida Atlantic, Colorado State, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and Northern Illinois all at 6-6 made the postseason.

Another 6-6 team, Notre Dame made the postseason when it might have been better for them to decline the invitation.

The Fightin’ Irish may enter the Hawaii Bowl as underdogs to Hawaii.

Eighty-nine schools have won bowl games since Notre Dame last won a bowl game in 1994.

The Irish have lost nine straight bowl games with an average loss by 17 points.

Accepting the bowl invitation was not a wise decision by Charlie Weis. Notre Dame will go down in the islands to the Warriors.

My two final suggestions are move any games that are not BCS-caliber games such as the GMAC Bowl to before Jan. 1. If the NCAA insists on having games go until Jan. 8, then at least make them good ones.

Finally, please do not televise any more bowl games on the NFL Network, such as this year’s Texas and Insight bowls. It makes more sense to air them on PBS so everyone can watch.

All is not lost though fans, I’ll give you the best games to watch this bowl season next week.

12-5-08 Grin and Barrett: Powerless in Portland

Well, I guess the story begins with me in Albany for Thanksgiving and leaving Friday afternoon for Hillsboro for the 1A state championships.

I’d just like to say how thankful I am that I live in such a great area. I hate traffic. I hope to never return to the Portland area.

I rarely ever find myself frustrated or lost when I drive, but last Friday I was mumbling obscentities in my car with no one in it but me.

I circled the Rose City three times and saw the I-84 West exit a couple of times and was urged to take it and just go home to La Grande.

But instead I stayed and finally found the Lloyd Center for some Christmas shopping and then after one more circle around Portland, I found the hotel in Hillsboro.

I’ve always been a Duck fan and two years ago I got tickets to the Civil War at the last minute. Despite being in Corvallis, I loved the experience.

Two years later after just barely getting tickets, I watched this season’s game in its entirety on the field.

When I got to OSU there was seven minutes before kickoff. I found the media entrance and I asked a guest services attendant where to go and she was clueless. As I wandered aimlessly through a building adjacent to the field, I could hear the game beginning.

I was so close but had no view of the game.

I found another guest services employee and they directed me to another gentleman who asked me to wait while he made some calls to try and help me.

By this time, it was five minutes into the game.

After waiting, the gentleman came back and said, “I’m sorry, man, no one knows where you can go.” I thought this was unbelievable — no newspapers have ever covered the Beavers before?

He could tell I wasn’t about to just leave, so he said, “Well, how about if I just get you on the field?” I quickly responded, trying to sound as professional as possible and not like the excited 12-year-old boy and said, “Yeah, sure, I guess that works.”

So, we weaved through a staircase that got us into what appeared to be a basement. The next thing I knew I was walking through the inflatable entrance the Beavers run through at the beginning of the game.

It turns out the guy who helped me was an Oregon State assistant coach and ran back to his sideline.

I have been to several incredible sporting events including a Game 7 of the World Series, Oregon’s controversial win over Oklahoma, an NBA playoff game and the XFL championships, but nothing compares to the Civil War.

I have also never been to a louder place than Reser Stadium.

I left with a huge migraine, could have been from the noise or only eating at Jack in the Box for breakfast that day.

After the game, as I walked next to players I have admired on television, I realized how blessed my life is right now.

I love my job, I love this area and I love the Ducks.

If anyone is wondering, a GPS for my car is at the top of my Christmas list this year.

11-15-08 Grin and Barrett: Looking into my crystal ball

Believe it or not there are people out there who are unaware that I am 25 percent psychic. My grandmother was a fortune teller.

This week I’ve dusted off her crystal ball and will let out some secrets of what’s to come. Let’s begin with college football. Every year about this time, college football analysts have nothing to talk about at the halfway point of the season.

So, what they do is analyze the Bowl Championship Series. And, by analyze I mean completely rip apart.
For a couple of weeks the talking heads argue that there should be a playoff format in NCAA Division I football.

Then in the third week, all of them concede. They all just give up so easily, saying that not only will it not happen in the near future, but ever.

I don’t understand it. Why do the analysts make such great points and arguments for a playoff system, then just quit on it?

I’m looking into my crystal ball and seeing that unfortunately we will never see a playoff.

There is far too much money being made with the current system.

I would be in favor of a playoff system. I feel there are too many teams not given a fair chance at the title each season.

One of those teams is Boise State. The Broncos have a great team this season, just as they did two years ago in the Fiesta Bowl victory over mighty Oklahoma.

If an eight-team playoff was ever implemented, it may hurt Boise State. Using the Fiesta Bowl game as an example, the Broncos went for two at the end of the game for a reason.

They had nothing left.

The mid-major program ran out of trick plays, strategy and energy. I’m not sure if Boise State could muster three weeks of wins over major programs.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Broncos and their style of play. I am not a fan of SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten football, it’s dull.

But, those conferences have 70-80 guys deep on each team. Boise State may have 30-40.

Another glance into my crystal ball sees Utah being taken over the Broncos by the BCS in the Sugar Bowl.

Boise State will end up in San Diego in the Poinsettia Bowl. That spot is designated for the Pac-Ten’s number six team. But, the Pac-Ten will only have five bowl eligible teams at the season’s end.

Here’s how the Pac-Ten will end up. USC heads to the Rose Bowl as conference champs. Oregon State beats Cal today and as much as I hate to say it, Oregon on Nov. 29.

But, the Beavers fall next Saturday at Arizona. Oregon State ends up in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Oregon winds up in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl.

I know the Holiday Bowl usually takes the second place team, but the Ducks always travel well there. And, the Las Vegas Bowl will jump at having the Beavers there after the embarrassment Oregon had there three years ago, losing to BYU, 38-8.

In the national championship game in Miami, Florida will defeat Oklahoma, 34-17.

That is all for now. My powers are fading.